California to sell about $7 bln bonds in 2013 -Treasurer

February 08, 2013|Reuters

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The state of California willlikely sell $7 billion of general obligation bonds this year intwo parts, with the first half of the sale in a few months,Treasurer Bill Lockyer told Reuters TV on Friday.

"It's probably two or three billion," Lockyer said of thespring issuance. "We're still working with the spending agenciesin the department of finance to determine their specific needsfor capital cash this spring."

California will return to the market in the fall, he added.

Last week, Standard & Poor's upgraded the state to A with astable outlook, from A-minus with a positive outlook. Earlierthis week, Moody's Investors Service said Governor Jerry Brown'sproposed budget reflected a "significant improvement" inCalifornia's finances, but it decided to hold the state's creditrating at A1 with a stable outlook.

"On the investor side we're finding very helpful movement inthe market for us as the demand has improved - the ratings ofcourse have helped probably with that," said Lockyer. "We'vealways had fairly substantial retail interest independent of thelarge institutional investors."